Vanguards of the Shinobi
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: The shinobi race was decimated by the reapers. Their people indoctrinated, harvested, slaughtered without mercy. But not all perished during the harvest. Some survived. Now a cache of alien technology has been discovered upon their world. Secrets abound and much more, the Vanguard of a race thought long since extinct. Will they survive the next cycle? NarutoxAshley. REWRITTEN!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: ALRIGHTY!**

 **This is a rewrite, because the original...well, let's face facts, it needed a makeover. I may have been too hasty to kill off some characters, and rushed plot points as well. HOWEVER! This should address those problems rather handily, I think. Someone once tapped me to write a NarutoxAshley story for Mass Effect. That someone has been very persistent as of late! To clarify, this takes place some months before the beginning of the first Mass Effect.**

 **Yes, the pairing is NarutoxAshley.**

 **Sorry, if that offends anyone.**

 **Now...**

 **...onto Vanguard of the Shinobi!**

 _"You there! What...what year is it?"_

 _~?._

 **Awaken (Rewrite)**

The full moon shone bright and clear as it peeked through the clouds.

A symbol of light, a symbol of peace, a sign of tranquility in the night. Serenity at its finest, the silver light peering through the clouds danced along the plains of Eden Prime, utterly ignorant of the men and women hard at work below. Good men and women, delving deep into the earth, searching for clue that might help verify mankind's existence. Their efforts were closely guarded by an alliance squad, responsible for the scientists' protection as much as their own.

"Um...Gunnery Chief Williams!" One of the technicians shouted, his voice rising over the cacophony of drills and excavation tools. "Ma'am, I think you might want to see this!"

A young woman with long, lustruous raven hair turned at the voice, idly brushing a bit of dirt from her pink-and-white bodysuit. Her armour had served her well during her service on Eden Prime, but the kinetic barriers were meant to repel bullets, not clods of offensive dirt and god knew what else.

"Coming!" She grumbled beneath her breath.

 _"What?"_

"Damnit, I said I'm coming, Johnson!" Williams bit back an oath; she coud scarcely hear herself think over the roar of machinery! As if on cue the incessant whir of the drills cut off, leaving her with silence. There came a dull thud from below the digsite, punctuated by the man's sharp yelp of surprise.

"What are you-hey! Hands off!" The sound of a scuffle, a gunshot, then silence.

"Johnson?" Ashley called, dread subsuming her. "Are you alright?"

"D-Down here, ma'am." came the reply, sounding abashed. "My pistol discharged...sorry about that."

Ashley Williams bit back a yawn and re-shouldered her rifle. The hour was late and, while she seriously doubted they'd find anything of importance here, she was obligated to grant the engineer's request. God, of all the times to have her hair down! Grumbling to herself about the late hour of their discovery, the Gunnery Chief trapsed down into the dig site, careful not to lose her footing on the steep incline. As she descended she could not help but to wonder; what could possibly be so important that she found there nearl took her breath away-scratch that to hell, it _did_ take her breath away.

What in the blue hell was this?

Sitting atop what looked like a metal pod, was a boy. Scratch that, too. He wasn't young enough to be a boy but not old enough to be a man. A youth, then. He was clad in black and orange rags his attire clearly having suffered while his skin had not. Rough blond bangs shaded a whiskered, chiseled face, from which eyes of the brightest shappire shone. They locked upon Williiams, pinniong her with their frantic desperation, as though she could somehow offer a clue as to how he'd come to be here. Johnson made as if to touch the pod beside the blonde...and found himself sorely regretting his action as the youth greeted him with a fierce profanity an a boot to the face, sending him sprawling.

 ** _"Baka yarou!"_**

 _Japanese?_ Ashley mused, the translators in her suit kicking in. _That's strange..._

"Alright alright!" Johnson pleaded, raising his hands lest the blond kick him again. "I won't touch anything! Just don't kick me again!"

The blond muttered foul something beneath his breath, and her translator caught it as:

...don't you dare touch them, asshole."

 _That_ piqued Ashley's attention. Was there someone else in that pod? She didn't have a chance to wonder; because the blond was staring at her again. She noticed the wound in his arm, blood spilling from where he had surely been shot by Johnson. Whomever he was, the youth didn't seem to care much for the wound; hell, he scarcely seemed to even register it, going so far as to idly pat the injury with his off hand. Before Ashley could think to stop him, blood spurted from the freshly torn wound. Not a moment later, the wound inexplicably began to sow itself shut. As Ashley looked on in horrified awe she began to understand. Whereas his shoulder had once been a tattered mess it was now beginning to heal; the grisly muscle knitting itself shut even as she observed.

"Oi, lady...are you in charge?" He drawled, heedless of her shock.

A muscle jumped in Ashley's jaw.

"My name is not _lady,_ kid." She straightened, contemplating whether she should bring her assault rifle to bear. "Its Ashley. _Gunnery Chief_ Ashley Williams."

"That's too long." the youth grumbled. "How about I just call ya Ash, ya know?"

Ashley bristled.

 _Ya know?_

"Are you one of the colonists?" she asked.

"Colonists?" The youth balked at her, "I'm a shinobi, not some damn colonist!"

"And what the hell is a shinobi?"

The blond blanched.

"You...don't know what a shinobi is?"

Ashley shook her head.

"In that case, I have only one question." the blond mumbled.

"And that would be?"

 _"What year is it?"_

Ashley couldn't help it.

Her eye twitched.

 **A/N: THERE WE GO! Expect the other two chapters shortly.**

 **So, in the immortal words of Atlas...**

 **...review, would you kindly?**

 **R &R! =D**


	2. Rebirth

**A/N: Here's where you'll see some major changes.**

 **...I am proud/pleased to provide you with this long awaited rewrite!**

 _"There's someone I'd like you to meet..."_

 _~Uzumaki Naruto._

 **Reminisce**

 _"2183 CE."_

With these words the boy _-he couldn't have been more than nineteen, maybe twenty at the most-_ gawped at Ashley, his trembling fingers losing their tentative hold on the coffee cup. Ashley winced, both as the ceramic mug fell from his trembling fingers and as it shattered upon the floor. _Damnit, that was my favoite mug!_ She'd leant him the cup of caff in the hope that it would calm his nerves, allowing him to open up to her and tell her his story. Apparently not! Not only she was down one mug, but he hadn't said so much as a word to her since leaving the dig site!

Now, inside the small quarters that qualified for a med bay on Eden Prime, she found herself fuming once more. Seated on the table opposite her the shinobi said nothing, although his forlorn features suggested he had not expected to wake in this day and age. Steeling herself for whatever reaction he might produce, the gunnery chief took a seat beside him. Naruto didn't bat an eyelash. Hell, he didn't even seem to notice her at all. A small frown marred Ashley's face.

"Look," She began, "I know this must be a lot to take in. Try to take deep breaths."

"Easy for you to say, ya know." her reassurance earned a grumbled retort from the shinobi. He reached up to massage his temples. "You're not the one who just came out of a coma."

"Point." Ashley conceded.

"Thank you, by the way."

"For what?"

"For not hitting with whatever those things were" Naruto indicated her rifle, laid flat across the bench opposite him. "

"You've never seen a gun before?"

"Not really, no." he winced and rubbed at his shoulder. "Damn things hurt like a bitch, though.

Ashley couldn't help herself; she laughed, and, almost without thinking, reached over to punch the younger man in the shoulder.

"Don't mention it."

"Believe me, I won't."

"Hey, if you need anything, just let me know." She ventured these words with unease; because she'd had no idea how she might comfort the young man sitting next to her. He might've appeared nromal, but, were one to stare at him overlong they would soon realize he was anything but. It was in the way he held himself; ready for action at a moments notice. He was tense. Alarmingly so. She'd seen PTSD in soldier's before fresh out of the First Contact War. Now that it was quiet again, she could see the discomfort in his stance, the tense state of his arms as they gribbed the table.

"Are you alright?" Ashley ventured the question hesitantly. "You're looking a little stressed...

Naruto remained utterly oblivious her words, however; his attention had returned inward, his shoulders seeming to sag beneath his flame-colored coat. Slowly he unbound his hitiate from his forhead, gingerly removing the metal headband and placing into his lap. Peering into his reflection, he rubbed a hand against his whiskered cheek, as though he somehow expected to find wrinkles in this youthful visage. Finding nothing, he raised his gaze, affixing the gunnery chief with a heavy stare.

"We were gone for so long," he whispered, and Ashley knew at once he spoke of his years in stasis.

"Who is this 'we' you keep talking about?"

Abruptly, the blond brightened.

"You _did_ find the other pods, right, boss lady?"

Ashley blanched, and not just at her newfound title.

Ah yes, then there was the matter of the pods they'd found. There were hundreds of them down there, each registering a faint signature beneath their indestructible coffins. Hundreds. Enough for a small army. They'd managed to convince him to leave the pods for a medical evaluation; even so she could see he was anxious to return to his vigil. He was in perfect health. Despite being in stasis for hundreds-if not thousands-of years, he was in perfect health; he hadn't aged a day since stepping into that stasis pod. She'd yet to rest out the exact numbers from the youth who called himself a shinobi, but she knew for certain the Alliance wouldn't be so circumspect in their methods when they found out about this. _Wait._ Did they have to know about this? Ashley immediately rebuked herself for the treasonous thoughts. Of course they did! This wasn't something she could keep under wraps!

"We...did find other pods." She admitted.

"How many?" Naruto pressed.

"A few hundred."

Naruto's face fell.

"O-Only a few hundred?"

"You were expecting more?" Ashley balked.

"Thousands went into stasis." Naruto murmurred. "Are you sure there aren't more pods? Did you check?"

At these words, Ashley bristled. Who was _he_ to question her?! Her job was to guard the technicians, not assist them on the dig site! Johnson and the others were having a fit over all the data and readings they'd taken from Naruto. Blood tests, skin samples, DNA... They were calling this the 'discovery of the decade' and would've run still more tests on the baffled blond had she not beat them back with a stick. It was a miracle she'd managed to shut down communications before someone decided to tell the Alliance about this discovery. Wrangle that much information from them indeed! at all!

"Look, kid-

Now, it was Naruto's turn to bristle.

"I am _not_ a kid." Something in those eyes of his told her to pursue the matter at her own peril. No, she realized, those were not the eyes of a child; nor were they those of an ignorant youth. These, were the eyes of a man. He'd bene through pain; he'd seen and suffered for what he had, just like her. They were alike, in a way. But that didn't mean Ashley had to _like_ him!

"Oh really?" She scoffed. "How old are you? Seventeen?"

"Twenty!" The youth snapped back, a vein throbbing in his forehead. "What about you, huh?! What ar ya, forty or something?!" That tore it. Ashley wasn't quite sure when she leaned forward, only that she did, and her forehead was now pushing up against the blonde's, her brown eyes boring fiercely into his blue. In any other situaition she might've blanched at such close proximity; right now, she was far too furious to care.

 _"Excuse me?"_

"I'll have you know I'm-

"You're?" Likewise, Naruto refused to be swayed, meeting her stare with a complacency that bordered on chilling. Ashley chewed on her lip, suddenly aware of her close proximity to the youth. If he was at all flustered by their close contact, he was doing very little to show it.

But what had caused their mass exodus in the first place?

"Naruto, right?"

"Hmm?"

"You guys aren't protheans, are you?"

"The fuck is a prothean?" Naruto frowned. "I already told you, I'm a shinobi!"

"And that is?"

"A shinobi is-" Naruto cut himself off. "Well, that would take awhile to explain."

There was a long moment of silence in which they appraised one another.

"Why exactly did you guys go into stasis?"

Any trace of smile-or what amounted to one-vanished with those words.

"I...don't think I'm willing to tell you that just yet." He paused, steepling his fingers. "But I will tell you this; we'll be prepared, this time. All of you will. I won't let Baachan's plan go to waste." His words sent a chill up and down Ashley's spine, but she carefully ignored it and pressed on, regardless.

"Baachan?"

"Ah, gomen." Naruto apologized. "I meant grandma Tsunade."

Ash shook her head in disbelief.

"God, you really are a strange one-

A harsh _crrrrraaaaack_ resounded outside the enclosure, silencing whatever she might've said.

 _ **!**_

Ashley was afforded only a brief glimpse of Naruto's reaction to the sound; the blonde's eyes flashed red, his rounded irises turning sinister and slitted. And then he was gone, crashing through the nearest wall, tearing through the steel as though it were wet tissue paper. Sparks skittered across the floor, producing a golden flash as the youth vanished in a sursurus of shouts and snarls. Less than a second later, the screaming started. Williams had only just made it outside when she realized it was Naruto doing most of the shouting, not the men and women who served under her.

Crossing the encampment in swift strides, she beheld the blazing blond in all his glory; sheathed in golden light as though it were a second skin. All eyes were set upon him, and even then _he_ was the one glaring bloody red daggers at the lot of 'em. As she drew closer, she could hear him gesticulating, hollering wildly.

"No no no!" The shinobi was screaming at them, his voice piquing with distress as he watched the technicians scanning the pod with their omni tools. "Baka yarou! Kono yarou! Wrong! Wrong wrong wrong! You're doing it all wrong! Outta my way!" Storming forward, he all but swatted a nearby tech aside, a viscious backhand all but sent the poor man flying across the dig site in a broken heap of body and bone. Ashley ordered a medic to attend the man and her squad to stand down in the same breath; silently praying she wasn't making a serious mistake.

"Tell your men to stay out of my way, boss lady!" Naruto barked up at her; gone was the peace of earlier; now his words were little more than animalistic snarl. "If they break even one of these pods I swear to kami I'll sic Kurama on them!"

Ashley had no idea who this 'Kurama' was, but she had the succinct feeling she'd find out the hard way. Naruto bounded toward a nearby pod with intent, it might have been the one he was guarding before. Or it might not, the gunnery chief mused, as she watched the shinobi abruptly reverse directions, his path taking him across the digsite and back towards her. As he came closer she could see that his very body shimmered with all too much light; it was if a small sun were shining through his skin. Black, tribalistic markings lay etched into his shimmering body from his arms to his cloak, all the way down to-

 _Oh my god._

The gunnery chief felt her cheeks darken as he bent down to pick up a nearby chunk of rock, subsuquently hurling it out of his way as though it weighed no more than a mere pebble. But that wasn't what had her sight, nor her attention. She'd gotten a rather good look at something just now. _Stop that!_ She chastised herself, _I am not staring at his ass!_ She wasn't! She couldn't! She shouldn't! She barely even knew him!

"You wouldn't happen to know how to use chakra, would you?" Naruto abruptly asked,his voice drifting across the dig site to reac her. Caught staring, Ashley blustered her surprise.

"Chak-what now?"

 _"Aargh!"_ Naruto flung up his arms in exasperation. "Simpletons! Forget it! I'll do it myself!"

Without another word the blond stooped down before the stasis pod, his gaze fixated intently upon a point Ash couldn't quite see. Running his hand almost lovingly across its smooth surface, he whispered something in his own dialect, the words so soft her translator couldn't detect them.

"..."

Naruto muttered the words once more beneath his breath and slapped one hand down upon the pod; the blow causing the metal casing to ring like a hollow bell. Nothing happened. Naruto struck it again, his open palm crashing down upon the pod like a hammer, producing another, almost musical note. It was not until he'd struck the casing several times and in several different places, producing a different note each time, that Ashley realized his intent. With each strike, he was opening it. The melody was as eerie as it was haunting and yet it was soothing; almost like a lullaby.

Ashley had the succint feeling she'd never forget it, as long as she lived.

Finally, the blond took his fingers away from the pod and pressed them together before his chest, arms folded, palms facing one another. There was a long moment of silence as the final note faded into obscurity, then silence prevailed over the dig site once more. Picking her way down the slope towards him, Ashley registered a spark of irritation in the shinobi's glowing visage.

"Nothing happened." Despite herself, the marine felt the need to point this out.

"Shh!" Naruto shushed her. "I'm concentrating!"

"Did you just shush me?"

"Yes, I did!" The shinobi stuck out his tongue. "Now, would you kindly let me do my work?"

Crimson eyes drifting shut, a sinister scarlet glow enveloped him, clinging to his body like a second skin, summoning a silent breeze. Ethereal in nature, stemming from his interlocked hands, the aura spread outward from him, seeking the pods, stretching across the rectangular coffin in crimson streamers until it too, was bathed in blinding light.

 _"Kai!"_ Naruto barked the word with such authority that everyone flinched. "Release!"

With an earsplitting hiss a nearby casing cracked open, venting steam into the night sky. Try as she might, Ashely could only blink, left dumbstruck by this revelation. Oh. Well, it wouldn't be so bad if he opened one rather than the rest sucked. But hadn't Naruto said he was about to open all the-

 _"Kai!"_

There came a sharp snap hiss, the sound of hundreds of depressurized pods rising around her in crescendo; yanking her out of her reverie. Steam spilled across the dig site, elicting startled cries from both scientist and guard alike. Already she could see people moving within the fog, rising, stirring, standing. Voices rose and fell in eeirie disharmony, the sounds of Naruto's vanguard reawakening after years of deep stasis hibernation, a sound unlike any other. But there were far fewer of them then there should be.

Ashley didn't consider them a "few" at all."

'What in the world...?

She could see them now as the mist faded, but instead of numbering in the upwards of hundred there seemed to be merely dozens. Some lay still in their pods, refusing, or perhaps unable, to rise after years of being in a vegetative state. Naruto said nothing, but the ashen expression he wore confirmed that even he, had not been expecting this. Ashley's thoughts straddled the realm of the profane, her mind spitting innumerable curses as, one after another, these warriors, these shinobi, began to rise. This...this was an army.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck all kinds of duck.

 _How was she going to explain this to the Alliance?!_

 **A/N: And there we have it! A LOT More survived this time around, and I cut out another...aspect for reasons pertaining to certain things.**

 **The events of Mass Effect start up next chapter and we see who else survived whatever it was the wiped out the shinobi *cough*reapers*cough*...it'll be a good one! Naruto opening up all those pods at once without any thought as to the consequences...yeah, that is so him LOL.** **So, in the immortal words of Atlas...**

 **...review, would you kindly?**

 **R &R! =D**


	3. Settling in Crisis

**A/N: REVIEW FOR IT FEEDS THE ENGINE OF CREATION.**

 **Ahem.**

 **Sorry about that.**

 **Is the site being weird for anyone else? Because its screwing with a bunch of us. Not to bash the hardworking folks who work so tirelessly to maintain this site, of course. I appreciate all the work they do, but alas, it seems the site still needs maintenance, especially the login area. If you're not able to review at first, please keep trying. It means a lot to us authors. We write for your reviews after all, and like the gentlefolk on this site, write to please the masses.**

 **Speaking of which!**

 **I think this chapter turned out much better now that I've cut THAT bit out that ticked so many people off. Hmm. Yes, much better indeed! For clarification, Shinobi are built of sturdier stuff then most. They are VERY hard to take down. Naruto's pretty much a prime example of that one. So I don't want to hear about guns taking him out. Have you seen his reactions speeds? No. Just not. Furthermore, to answer the question, the planet is very much Eden Prime.**

 **Naruto of course, does NOT know this. He thinks of it as the Earth. His earth, at any rate.**

 **When asked about the other pods, he was very disoriented as well.**

 **Furthermore, Naruto's very hard to take down.**

 **Throw in his insane regeneration and well...**

 **...he recovers mighty fast.**

 **As you'll soon see.**

 **To clarify, the Ninja were overwhelmed by the Reapers. This much is true. But it was SHEER. BLOODY. NUMBERS. That's why they lost in the first place. Reapers are downright vicious to fight, and when you throw in the indoctrination...well, you're in for a bad time to say the least.** **As to the numbers of shinobi and citizens who survived...we're taking alot here, folks. In the upper hundreds or more, likely. Elite ninja mostly, not the canon fodder scrubs who'd get annihilated in a straight up fight.**

 **In a gun battle they'd take losses of course, but they're gonna make their enemies hurt.**

 **I do apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this causes anyone but this Rewrite was a long time in coming.**

 **Thanks once again for all the support and I hope you all like it!**

 **THE REBIRTH CONTINUES!**

 _"I have an army."_

 _"We have a Naruto."_

 _~?_

 **Settling in Crisis**

"Stop calling me Boss lady!"

"But it suits you!" Naruto replied cheekily, plowing on ahead without so much as a backward glance.

"Or would you rather I call you big sis? After all, you are older than meeeeee..."

Williams flushed seven shades of scarlet, and not from anger.

"Ohhh, that is it. You are so dead!"

"Gotta catch me first, sis!"

"Why you little-?!"

Were the last words of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, as she followed after Uzumaki Naruto, waving and gesturing for the younger man's attention. She was tired, morose and grumpy, her body aching from missing a night worth of sleep, she still hadn't had a chance to put up her hair _or_ recover her helmet for that matter. Nay, she was far too focused on keeping the brash blond out of trouble. But it seemed trouble had chosen to follow him instead, he was raising hell wherever he went.

How could one person cause such chaos in such a short amount of time?!

It had started last night when one of the colonists had tried to "speak" with one of his peoples womenfolk. The man had claimed it was speaking, but judging by the thrashing the blonde had given him, and as a woman herself, Williams suspected there had been more at work there than a simple exchange of words. _Then,_ there had been the incident that occurred in the wee hours of the morning, when every male colonist woke to find their domiciles bleached orange, their underpants and attire missing, replaced by a series of green spandex suits as garrish as they were hideous.

When asked about said crime, the blonde merely replied with "Might Guy's legacy lives on," to that effect, thought not without his own share of mirth.

Honestly, did he have any _idea_ of the chaos he was causing?

Naruto didn't seem to care what she thought of him, though today, his pranks seemed to have faded, replaced by a more serious persona. He was walking amongst his men and women speaking to each in turn, clapping some on the back, shaking hands with others, murmuring reassurances to those who were clearly baffled and frightened by the prospect of waking in this strange, alien word. Williams didn't much blame them for that. If she'd been in cryo-sleep for as long as they had she'd be more than a little disoriented herself. There were so many here, not just warriors but women and children as well, whole families even. And to think, they'd all been in stasis, just waiting to be unearthed...

Naruto and spoke to each of them in turn.

All in all, it left the Gunnery Chief slight...unnerved to say the least.

There were hundreds of them here.

Perhaps even more, assuming they ever got around to a head count.

"Who is that, mama?" A little girl with blond hair and pale blue eyes asked, pointing at her; the marine's suit translators effortlessly picking up the words.

"I don't know, sweetheart." the woman that was doubtlessly her mother, replied. "She must be a friend of the Hokage."

In that instant, she could've sworn she heard Naruto snicker, then it was back to the girl again.

"So...she's a good guy then?"

Somehow the little girl's simple way of thinking brightened William's mood more than anything else this morning; she flashed the pair a small smile and moved on-unknowing she'd just spoken to Yamanaka Ino and her young daughter. It simply never occurred to her, she didn't even know them, despite having spoke with Naruto only this afternoon. This was all so surreal for her...seeing all these people here; seeing them, listening to them, all these families...

...it almost made them feel human.

"My, is that a blush I see?"

Tch! Cocky little...!

Ashley took a half-hearted swipe at him with the stock of her rifle; as expected, the blond flowed around it as though it weren't even there. At this point she'd all but given up trying to crack him across the head when he'd annoyed her. If Naruto didn't want you to touch him, you weren't going to touch him.

"These are my people. Why wouldn't I look after them?"

They were, weren't they?

In a way she empathized with them, even understood what Naruto was trying to do. The people here obviously looked to him for guidance, and as their leader, he was doing his level best best to provide it on both sides of the spectrum. Although he was clearly still out of sorts himself, having only had a day to recover, he was doing what all good leaders should. Speaking with their people. Comforting them. Consoling those who hadn't had a chance to survive the stasis process, mourning with them of loved ones lost.

Was this really their home world?

Naruto had made such a claim that this planet had been theirs long ago, long before the people of Earth had traveled to the stars via Mass Relay and carved out a spot for their colonies in the galaxy. It sounded absurd on paper. What were the chances of another species looking just like them, even an ancient one? Just how ancient...he refused to say. At first she'd dismissed his words as folly, but now, seeing everyone's reactions, she was beginning to think there might be more than a grain of truth in his words.

So subsumed was she in her her mind that she almost failed to notice Johnson until he was actually _shouting_ at her.

...CHIEF!"

"What?!"

"Gunnery Chief, we found something else!" a technician came jogging up to her, breaking up her thoughts.

 _Great, now what?_

"We kept digging through the night," Johnson continued en, indicating a nearby hole with a glance, one that hadn't been there last night. "And this is what we found. Please, come and see." Warily, Williams followed after him, mentally bracing herself for the sight of another pod when she saw Naruto nearby. Except there wasn't.

What she found instead was a beacon.

Tall enough to loom over them all, it gleamed a faint iridescent green. Flowing craftsmanship melded together to create an imposing piece of architecture. Yet still, there was something about it that drew her. Almost as if it were alive. Even as she approached the metal seemed to thrum, calling out to her...

"What's this?"

Naruto turned his head aside, regarding the strange artifact with a frown.

"What _is_ that?" he wondered, seconding her.

"Gotta be Prothean." For all the confusion she felt, Williams still recognized the make of it at once, she'd seen countless images of such things in holovids.

"Prothean?"

"We've already sent word to Alliance Command, ma'am." the technician saluted smartly, unaware of his own peril. "They should have a ship inbound within a few hours." The Gunnery Chief swore a silent streak beneath her breath. This was precisely the sort of thing she'd wanted to avoid until everything had settled. Now...just how the _hell_ was was she supposed to tell the brass they'd found a cache of extraterrestrial survivors from a bygone age? But something was wrong. She began frowning at the beacon, gazing at it like he half-expected it to sprout legs and walk away.

Naruto seemed to be of a similar mind.

"Oi. Ash."

"Hmm?" she cocked his head aside, mildly surprised he'd used her name.

"We didn't bury that." A touch of dread had entered the man's words, his expression uncharacteristically sober. "If this is so important...maybe we should have a look...

In that instant, his bare hand brushed the beacon.

The seizure that followed lasted all of an instant, wracking the blond's body with enough force to physically snap him backward; his body nearly parallel with the ground. Was it possible for a man to scream with their teeth clenched? Apparently it was. Limbs twitching, fingers spasming, the whiskered warrior hunched over with a wordless howl, clawing at his head. And then, just as quickly as his convulsions had begun, they ended. The ninja jerked upright up in a heartbeat, swearing like a sailor.

"No, no, no. This isn't...this can't be...

Abruptly, his eyes widened.

"GET DOWN!"

Before Ashley had a chance to ask what had made the young man so distressed, he stepped up and shoved her. Hard. The motion sent her staggering backwards, arms pinwheeling. In a heartbeat a world of emotion itself flashed through the soldier's mind. She was left looking at Naruto with confusion, hurt, wondering why he'd shoved her, why he was standing there, why he was shouting, why-

 _CRACK._

Naruto's body snapped backwards as something slammed into his chest, blew through, and emerged out the back of her visage, spattering Ashley in a shower of gore. All that, in the blink of an eye. There...could be no other word for it. Naruto Uzumaki was dead before he even hit the ground. There could be no denying that. He'd just been shot through the heart. That was death for any organic short of a Krogan, and even one of the burly brutes would've been hard-pressed to regenerate from a grievous injury like that.

...ow."

So one could understand how baffled she might've been when the blond inexplicably straightened up and touched a rough hand to her face. Looked down at her body. Repeated. He did this for several seconds, rigorously checking her over for any manner of injury. No words were exchanged between the two of them, despite the fact he'd just been shot right in front of her. Her mouth worked wordlessly, sound refusing to emerge from her throat. Finally, a strangled syllable slipped past her lips.

"What...?"

He knelt next to her, uncaring for the blood on his face, the gore from his hands.

"C'mon now," he reached for her, hoisting her to her feet in a single violent motion. "You need to get out of here. Now."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I don't have to time to explain!"

With a growl he pushed past.

 _"Defensive positions!"_

Ashley wanted to say something-anything-but somehow she knew she just knew, the moment she spoke, the blond would go off again. Or worse. For once in her life she actually faltered, standing there, helpless as her companion marched into the thick of his people, barking orders. The shock set in. A confused, terse silence fell over the colony as they began to move. The land itself seemed to come to life for their sake. Civilians were ushered makeshift shelters of wood and earth, impossibly created before her very eyes. Others drew weapons, preparing themselves for that they no doubt believed to be a confrontation.

Was it so wrong that she wanted nothing more than to help him in that instant?

 _'Calm down, Williams.'_ she reprimanded herself for the slip. _'Focus. Rationalize.'_

Unable to do anything for the young man's sudden fit of temper, she instead set her sights on finding the would-be sniper. Who had fired the shot? Clearly none of the colonists stood suspect, nor any of her men had been the one to try and end her without say so. Everyone was here, gathered around the shinobi. Besides, the angle was all wrong. The bullet had come from above, not below, which meant from higher ground, _which meant..._

Ah.

That, was when she saw it. A lone creature, its silhouette just visible over the horizon, it's flaslight-like head swiveling impossibly on a stalkish neck to gauge the status of its targets. Lowering its high-powered rifle, it emitted a series of strange clicks and garbled gibberish. As though it were laughing at them. Mocking them. Scowling, the Gunnery Chief drew her own weapon, sighted down the scope, and fired. Everything moved on instinct, there was no pause, no hesitation as she squeezed the trigger.

Perfect shot.

"There!" she shouted, capturing the attention of shinobi and soldier alike. "On the ridge!"

The Geth-for that was what this creature was-had already dropped like a sack of interstellar potatoes. Its neck spurted tiny bursts of electricity where its head had once existed, its corpses toppling over the ridge with a dull thud. A bead of sweat trickled into her eye and she blinked, unable to watch its downward spiral for an instant. When she opened her eyes, everything changed. Another Geth was standing where the first had fallen. Soon it was joined by another. And another, bearing its exact resemblance. And another still, until it and its fellows numbered in upwards of dozens. They stood there for a long moment, staring down at the teeming mass of populace below, gazing upon them in silent contempt.

Ashley swallowed.

She could taste the colonist's fear, knew what was coming-

 _"Geth!"_

That word proved to be the linchpin, someone screamed. Everyone panicked.

And the Geth opened fire.

Civilians died in droves within the very first volleys; not so the Shinobi. The former were unarmed, but the latter, though unable to comprehend the use of such advanced weaponry, were able to react within a modicum of error before they could be cut down by the gunfire. Some still fell of course; all but ripped to pieces by the supersonic shells. But more survived. Their superior numbers afforded them a strange cohesion; instead of falling apart at the first signs of death, they retreated, erecting barriers of hardened earth-and in some cases water-even as they beat a fighting retreat.

Ashley herself barely managed to get into cover and snap off a few shots of her own.

As for the rest...

"Scatter!" Someone shouted!

A handful did just that, managing to rally despite the assault, showcasing what Ashley could only call extraordinary abilities. One man seemed to be shielding himself with sand, the grainy substance moving even faster than the Geth weaponry, roiling and coiling round him at impossible angles, deflecting all but the most imprecise of shots. It boggled the mind...how could sand intercept a bullet?! As she looked on, it did more than just intercept, curling around to ensnare a rocket fired at their position and fling it back to explode in Geth faces as though it were an errant bauble.

"I suggest you stay were you are, miss." the redheaded man said. "Unless you'd rather die."

Numbed, Ashley nodded.

"Have faith." he reassured her, unflinching as his sand snared another lethal volley and reduced it to so much dust. "We are not all incompetent...as we may seem."

As if to echo his words, Ashley saw it.

The beginnings of a counterattack beginning to form around her, the geth sniper line falling apart before it.

To the right of her a young woman, had wrapped herself in a shroud of ice itself, the bullets pinging harshly off her impenetrable dome. A flick of her hand sent that very same dome crashing outward, skewering a host of nearby geth as though they were naught but meat upon a barbecue. And their were others still. A rather strange looking fellow rapped tunelessly to himself as he cut down hordes of Geth, bifurcating their helpless bodies with...ten swords?! Ashley felt her jaw drop. These shinobi...truly were strange.

How could they perform such feats?!

But even as these select few beat the geth back, men and women were being cut down. While the warrior stood their ground and fought for their lives -others retreated in terror and fear- the colonists weren't nearly so fortunate. They were helpless to do anything but flee from their assailants. It was a...heartwrenching conflict. Still, the Shinobi defense held long enough for the soldiers to rally and return fire of their own. In time, they whittled down the Geht numbers in return. Even then the fire didn't cease.

Chaos raged all around her.

Like Gaara, some stood tall despite the adversity.

Still another seemed to possess some power of precogniscence, instead of using elaborate techniques to protect himself he simply stood there, his body shifting in the most minute of away, as if he were using the least amount of effort to evade. Despite the unbelievable speed of the sniper rounds none of them had touched him. None came close to this raven-haired man with those bright crimson eyes. There were others who dodged or evade the deadly hair of artillery fire, taking refuge through means either mystical-to her, at the least-or otherwise, they endured.

Not this one.

He took the fight to the Geth without fail, darting forward across the open expanse, sword flashing free from its scabbard with a crackle of sparks. A single leap covered the distance between them in its entirety. And then he was upon them, striking and slashing and cutting. Moving. Always moving, lest he be caught by a stray round. Ashley didn't expect a katana to stand up against the armored hide of the Geth, but this one did so in spades, splitting them in twine like a hot knife through butter. His voice carved across the distance to demand action.

"Will someone get that idiot out of here?!" he hissed. "We haven't got all day!"

Others fell.

All the while, the colonists fled for their very lives; what little good it did them. Lacking any of the superhuman abilities possessed by Naruto's people, few lived. Some found shelter by the side of the Ninja. Others fled to the east and were cut down by withering crossfire. Still more managed to find momentary shelter in the domiciles, only to be cut down by waiting geth drones. In contrast, none of the deadly synthetics dared approach Naruto. Nor did their bullets, either, they seemed to simply glance off him now, as though his rage itself were repelling them.

He took the fight to the rest.

Rather than face them with a weapon as any SANE individual would, he fought with his bare hands. Tore apart Geth with a furious snarl, a wordless oath of rage leaping from his lips with every kill. His body very body all but shone an eerie shade of saffron, proving the source of his blistering speeds. Ashley never really knew what he did that day. Only that he moved somehow, and every geth in a mile radius shattered like so much glass, their bodies crumbling apart as the blond blurred back into existence seconds thereafter.

The remainder died to what she could only describe as _miniature nukes._

"ORAH!"

Keening spheres of wrath and might slammed into any synthetic unfortunate enough to catch his eye; ripping away circuits as easily as flesh, sundering all in their path. To stare into such a storm was to go blind; in the end, Ashley had to avert her eyes from the massacre as Rasenshuriken after Rasenshuriken decimated the colony. Then, as quickly as the battle had begun, it ended. The last Geth fell and the world went silent, its brief peace stolen away by catastrophe.

"Regroup!"

So too had Naruto's kindness been ripped away and fury left in its place; she could see it, lurking in his eyes-those deep scarlet pools, dominating his entire expression. He passed at her a glance, his glassy eyes seeming to phase right through her. As if she weren't even there. Throughout it all, she hadn't so much as fired a second shot.

 _Naruto..._

Even as Ashley realized standing this close might not be a good idea, the strange ice-user from before appeared beside her.

"That seems to be the last of them."

"There will be more." Gaara pointed out distressingly. "There always are."

"I'm not concerned about that right now." Naruto barked, his gaze scouring across the colony, issuing orders to those still holding the strength o stand. "Bee, gather the wounded, see who survived. Sasuke, I want this site locked down. Now. No one gets in or out. Haku, I want a ship fully fueled and prepared to bug out of here within the hour. Everyone else...burn the dead. Leave the colonists. With a bit of luck, we might get out of this one alive. We can pan out our options afterwards."

 _"That's all you have to say?"_

Five pairs of eyes snapped towards Ashley Williams, just now rising from where she'd hidden herself away. She knew the blond was running solely on anger and duty right now. Knew that his drive to survive, to keep his people alive, was all that kept him from breaking down into grief again. But even so, even so, she just couldn't bring herself to sit idly by why he let potential survivors wither and die. She'd never considered herself much of a paragon before, but even so, this renegade behavior was utterly intolerable.

"She survived?" Haku mouthed, impressed, but a hiss from Naruto silenced her.

"Is there a problem?" Gone was the clever prankster from this morning, in his place was a leader, forged out of steel and nothing else. There was no longer anything soft about him. Perhaps there would be later, maybe-once they were out of danger-but for now, he was every inch the man, the leader his people needed him to be.

"What about the colonists?"

"We'll assist with their evacuation, but that's no longer our primary concern." the Hokage waved her concerns away with a flick of the wrist. "Right now, I'm more concerned with tending to my wounded. My people. Not yours. Get yourself somewhere safe or help us. I don't care which, but you need to decide. Now."

She flinched, stung.

"You don't have to be such an ass about it."

 _"I know."_ Naruto bit back, his voice scraped raw. "But you don't understand. We have to go! Those bastards are coming and...they...

Though his mouth hung open to continue, his face had now fallen slack with shock.

 _"No."_ The word was little more than a dry rasp _. "Not now. Not again..._

"Oh." Was all Sasuke managed to say, staring upward at the sky. "Well...this puts a damper on things."

Ashley followed his gaze and froze.

Something was descending from the sky, a great monolith coming down from the clouds, its many arms spread wide.

Not just anything, but something absolutely massive. In a way, it looked almost like a giant metallic squid, hovering amidst those crackling sparks of red lightning. But when this massive creature bellowed it left everyone deafened; its bass notes seemed to silence the planet itself. When its arms spread wide a lance of pure crimson light lashed out at their position, carving through the terrain as effortlessly as one would through water. The shinobi wasted no time in getting out of its way but she was only human, and it was moving all too fast, far too swiftly...

"The hell you doing?! MOVE!"

A golden arm clamped onto her shoulder and heaved, ripping her backwards.

Ashley William's last sight was that of Naruto's movement, then...

...she found herself gazing up at a giant golden fox.

And beside it...a giant burning purple skeleton?

 **"Oi! Sasuke! Toss me at that fucker!"**

 _Blackness._

 **A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaand there we go. A different tone indeed! Naruto's touched the beacon this time around, and had its images blazed into his brain. While said becaon remains intact. Allowing others to interact with it, though that may bode good or ill...**

 **I almost pity Sovereign this time around.**

 **ONE reaper against a few shinobi?**

 **Two of whom are nukes?**

 **Yeah, buh-bye.**

 **Also!**

 **You all asked for it, so be sure and read the preview below! I genuinely want to know what you think!**

 **We also get to see Shepard next chapter! Not sure if it'll be a he or a her, so if anyone has any ideas in that regard, feel free to go ahead and throw me a line here!**

 **So, in the immortal words of Atlas...**

 **...review, would you kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!**

 **More lighthearted tone next time around!**

 **Udina is, as always, a snake.**

 **(Preview)**

 _"Congratulations, Williams. You're being promoted."_

 _"Sir?"_

 _Udina smiled thinly._

 _"You've been nominated."_

 _"I'm afraid I don't follow, sir."_

 _"Must I be blunt? You're going to be our ambassador to these...what do they call themselves?"_

 _"Shinobi, sir."_

 _"Yes, those."_

 _"But sir, I-_

 _"We need their technology and evidently, their leader is fond of you. Consider yourself reassigned."_

 **R &R! =D**


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